This invention relates to a portable sun tanning spa and sauna assembly which can provide either comforting heated or dehumidified forced air flow across the body of a person lying within the assembly depending upon ambient atmospheric temperatures.
Various sun bathing and sauna assemblies are known in the prior art. See, for example, the sun bathing and tanning devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,170,172 granted to L. P. Kessman on Feb. 23, 1965 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,879,377 granted to C. Mullins on Mar. 9, 1999. The Kessman sun tanning device is adapted to allow direct tanning of one side of a sun bather's body while permitting reflected sun light to tan the opposite side. The Mullins assembly comprises a bed tray for sun tanning which holds a quantity of water for cooling the body of a person lying within the tray. U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,823 granted to G. Smith on Apr. 7, 1992 also shows a tanning bed adapted to hold a quantity of cooling water for the comfort of a sun bather. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,763 granted to I. L. Parsell on Apr. 26, 1988 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,600 granted to J. M Collier on Feb. 5, 1991 disclose solar heated sauna assemblies. The collier patent is directed to a pod forming a body shell including a transparent dome. The pod contains a bed which is tiltable by means of a motor and a self contained climate control system. The pod itself can be rotatably adjusted by means of a motor. The device of Collier is a complex structure and, while adapted for use outside in different types of weather conditions, is not readily portable. It is also quite clearly an elaborate and relatively expensive structure. Finally, the Collier device is not adapted for use in direct sunlight absent the transparent dome.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a sun tanning assembly which can also be used as a sauna and which can provide air conditioning for the comfort of the user in a light weight, highly portable, inexpensive assembly not heretofore known in the prior art. By means of my invention, these and other important objectives can be obtained.